sorry to post again, really need some advice

[greenefingers]

sorry to be posting again all over the place, i could really do with some advice as my head is all over the place. i'm so tired i gave catherien a dose of night nurse instead of calpol last night, only a very small one fortunately as she (sensibly!) spat most of it out but i'm so upset about it.

she had been sleeping through for about 6 weeks. 3 nights ago i changed milk to aptamil 2 and she woke about 5 times that night. i changed back to the usual stuff the next day, she woke 3 times that night. Last night she woke at 7.50 (45 minutes sleep), 1.15am, then about every 45 minutes til morning. Settled herself everytime so i didn't need to go in, but couldn'r get back to sleep.

i've been reading the the FAQs on night waking and am typiung up my thoguhts to try and get my head round it!!

1) TEETHING: don't think so- not dribbling, not red cheeked, calpol/night nurse didn't make any difference, still woke up, so not pain related.

2) MILK: getting about 22-24 ounces of aptamil 1 a day. can she still be bunged up from one DF of Aptamil 2 3 nights ago?

3) SOLIDS: 3 meals a day: rice&fruit, rice/veg/protein; rice&fruit. one hour after milk. not taking much.

4) NAPS: had been doing 1 1.5 hours plus a 30 minute cat nap. Naps have been slightly shorted the last few days, down to 1hour 20 minutes. Usually does 2.5hours A time first thing in the morning but struggles togo this long after her first nap. Should i be extending naps to 2 hours and dropping the CN? she still seems to really need it.

5) OT at bedtime: i don't think, goes down well in about 10 minutes of 'talking/singing' to herself. This is usually 2 hours after waking up from catnap. is 2 horus too long/too short?

6) HUNGER: I don't think so. she got herself back to sleep on all her wake ups. She's not properly awake as such but doing the moaning and groaning noises she makes to get herself to sleep. i don't understand what's disturbing her sleep so much,

I'm so confused that she can have changed so suddenly. 4 days ago she was sleeping 3.5 horus in the day and 11 at night. U can't get back to sleep once she's woken me up, i'm usually just nodding off and she wakes up again so have had about 2 hours a night for th last 3 nights. It's also disturbing DD1.

i can't think of anyhting else to say. I'm going to try cooling down on the solids a bit and just giving her rice and milk today.
DH says i shouldn't go into her at night. He thinks giving her the aptamil 2 messed her up a bit, but me going in to her has reinforced the waking. i'm not sure i agree, can she really deliberately wake herself up like this? She got herself back to sleep independentl every time last night so she doesn't actually 'need' anything.

sorry if this is a bit rambling, not reeally thinking straight yet today and am stills o upset about giving her my medicine
thanks everyone
anna

[LucySol]

Hi Anna.Sorry you are having these problems,hang in there hun!
Firstly,i dont know much about formula cos i BF my children but i really dont think 1 bottle of the stage 2 milk would be a problem especially still days on.im wondering if her NW have just got worse about the same time you changed her milk an its just coincidence?
From looking at your routine i think its that that needs tweaking.im sure a 1.5hr nap and a 30 min catnap is no where near enough sleep for your lo-she is 6 months right? My dd is 12 months and she sleeps these naps,sometimes longer! i think we need to look at your routine ang go from there.its prob OT causing these NW.At this age my lo was doing 2 naps and a catnap.2 hrs after the catnap would probably be ok for bedtime if she is well rested during the day,but it depends what kind of A time she can handle after a short and long nap,if she is only having those 2 sleeps she must be having huge A times in the day.
can you post your routine and then we can go from there? im sure others will jump in too and between us we can help!

Lucy xxx

[greenefingers]

thanks so much ladies! i've had a short afternoon nap while Catherine was asleep and can now think (and type!) better. the first thing i notice is that i wrote she has 1 1.5 hour nap a day. Obviously this should have been 2!!

here's yesterday's routine:
(Awake 3 times in the night)
A: 7.10 ( I woke her up)
E: 7.10 (2 ounces)
Activity (inc. rice&fruit at 8am) 7.10 - 8.40  (2.5). Went down well, no dummy.
S: 8.40 - 9.55 (1h 15 mins. I gave her dummy then, straight back off, let her have another 15 minutes then woke, so had 1hour 30 mins in total) Should i have let her have 2 hours here?
E: 11.10 7 ounces
Activity: 11.10 (inc. rice/veg/cod lunch) - 1.40 (2h 3o mins awake, but not happy about last 30 minutes!). had to really push here to get to 2h30 A time.
S: 1.40 - 3.10 (1h 30 mins sleep, but kept stirring so gave dummy).
E: 3.10 can't remember how many ounces
Activity 3.10 - 4.40 (getting ratty at 4pm though) (Awake 1h 30)
S: 4.40 - 5.10 (30 minute catnap) TOTAL SLEEP TODAY 3 hours 30 minutes, same as what she's been doing for weeks.
E: 5.30 (rice/veg/fruit)
Bath 6.15
Bottle: 6.45, 4 ounces.
S: 7.10, no dummy.

AWAKE: 7.50 (shushed back to sleep).
AWAKE: 1.15 (settled self)
AWAKE: 1.30 (I gave night nurse by accident, thinking mayeb teething pain, but paracetamol in it didn't make any difference)
I went downstrairs at this point and left DH in charge. He says she woke twice more before I went back up at 5.30. He left her and she settled herself in a few minutes.
AWAKE: 6 (gave dummy, unsettled for about 30 minutes then asleep. Left her til 7.10)

TODAY:
AWAKE: I woke her at 7.10
E: 7.10 4 ounces (this is more than usual, usually 2)
A: 7.10 - 9.40 (inc. rice and banana 8am) (2h 30 mins awake)
S: 9.40 - 11.20 (1 hour 40 minus. longest nap for weeks, no dummy)
E: 11.20 7 ounces, downed in about 5 minutes!
A: 11.20 - 2.50 (inc. rice& carrot, didn't want much) (2 hours 30 mins awake)
S: 2.55 - 3.25 (1hour 30 minutes sleep)
E: 3.25 6 ounces.

that's it so far. She's alreayd had more milk today than yesterday (17 ounces so far) so maybe it is a growth spurt. She hasn't seemed particularly hungry the last 2 days though, in fact she's seemed less hungry which was leading me towards teething. No i have no idea!!

Don't know what to do now. 3.25 is too long to go til normal bedtime. shall i try to squeeze in a short catnap about 5?

many thanks again
anna

[greenefingers]

small update:
took her out in the pram to get a catnap. Slept 5.15 - 5.25 then someone walked past,said helo and woke her up. She seems quite happy now though, but i'm assuming i'm not aiming for 2 hours til bed. i'm going to do the usual routine and aim to have her in before 7, hopefully asleep by 7, fingers crossed!!
anna

[greenefingers]

thanks so much for your support Jane, hope those molars come through soon!!

an update of the evening:
small bit of rice for tea, another 7 ounce bottle at bedtime, in at 6.56, asleep 7.01!! i think you're right about the growth spurt, she's had 24 ounces today already without the dream feed, and that's more than she's had in total over the last few days. i'll get the calpol and dentinox ready for the night. will post again tomorrow!
i'm still a bit unsure what to do with her naps. she was doing really well previously on 2 1.5 hours and a 30 minute CN. i don't think the NWs are nap-related but i could very well be wrong! i'll see how she does tonight on this extra milk. i don't think she's ready to drop the catnap yet.

ok, fingers crossed, hope you get a good night!
anna

[greenefingers]

mornng jane, how was your night? any sign of those molars yet?
well, not much sleep int his house again. she settled so well at bedtime and didn't move all evening so i had high hopes... didn't want any DF at 10.30 so DH tried again at 11 and got 3 ounces down  her. not huge amount but sometimes that's all she wants. so had a total of 27 ounces yesterday, more than she usually has but not massively.
AWAKE: Midnight, proper screaming, definitely not goign to settle herself! gave her calpol and dentinox. Awake for the next 2 hours crying. Gave her a 4 ounce feed at 2am, slept til 6, dummy in til 7. Had 3 ounces at 7 (normal amount), wanted lots more breakfast than usual at 8, went down well-ish at 9.30 for nap. THere's definitely a little sharp bit on her bottom gum that wasn't there yesterday so maybe we;re over the worst of it, ha ha ha famous last words!! fortunately DD1 was staying with my mum last night so she didn't get disturbed. I don't remember teething being this bad last time round, but maybe i've just blanked it out of my memory! you're right about not cutting out the CN just yet, i'mjsut going to let her sleep as much as she wants today up to 2 hours as she lost 2 hours of sleep last night. how long do GS usually last at this stage? it's been 4 nights now, maybe started as teething, then GS yesterday perhaps?
thanks again for all the hand-holding!
anna

[greenefingers]

we have a tooth!! actually, it's more like nearly 3 teeth... the one at the front has come through, but she also has 2 little white spots on the back at either side, which can only be molars. she's only 6 months! i thought they didn't get molars till much later, no wonder she's been so upset.
anyway, last night was a bit of a miracle. gave her some pain meds just before the DF like you suggested and she slept all night, actually had to wake her up at 7! thanks so much for all your advice. i hope your little one is feeling better soon
anna

[greenefingers]

morning jane, well another bad night, and yet another tooth!! i think the girl is planning on a whole mouthful this week! she had pain meds at bedtime, dreamfeed and in the night but didn;t seem to make any differnece, poor little thing. maybe she;s just going to get them all out of the way in one week!
anna